


Darkness

by SatanicVenus



Series: FFXI Collection [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-23
Updated: 2010-11-23
Packaged: 2017-10-13 08:32:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatanicVenus/pseuds/SatanicVenus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bastok had a secret weapon in their fight for conquest...<br/>Valron was a no one who raised himself to the rank of Dark Knight...But the Gods had plans for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lost

**Author's Note:**

> This is Book #2 in my FFXI collection.  
> This story encompasses the beginnings of Valron (our other main character). See how he became who he is.

Could you imagine growing up not knowing who you are, or better yet what you are? Always living in a world of unceasing darkness. It would be quite scary and unnerving, don’t you think...Especially for a child.  
Well in this world there was one such child, a vagrant boy wandering the streets and back alleys of Bastok.  
No one, least of all the boy himself, knew exactly how he came to be. Speculation has been made; did his parents die in the wars? Was his memory loss do to an injury or traumatic event? All that is known is a young boy arose from the ashes and moved on with life.  
He had no home, no family. But he did learn quickly to fend for himself. The tramp became a staple in Bastokan life. A few merchants helped him out and in exchange he would labor for them. Someone even taught him how to wield a pickaxe in the mines. Slowly he learned his way in the community and had his very own place in it.  
As he grew so did his strength, manual labor does that to you. More merchants and tradesmen looked to him for help. His education was found through his own blood, sweat, and tears. He soon began exploring the outside world. Adventuring from place to place, skills in battle greatly increasing. But no matter where he went his loyalty always stayed with Bastok.  
Saving the gil he earned through labor and battle, he soon amassed a small fortune of his own. He was able to have a place he could call home. In this land of industry, he was becoming indispensable to many. The name Valron was on everyone’s lips.

One evening a teenaged Valron was mining in Zeruhn when he heard faint screams coming from deep in the tunnels. Never one to back away from a fight, he rushed deeper in, finding at the end a girl much his own age at the mercy of a monstrous slime. He threw himself headlong into battle defeating the creature to save her. When he finally looked upon her fair features, he fell instantly in love. Her golden eyes shined bright as she thanked him, introducing herself as Angelina.  
Over the next year he found himself doing anything in his power to bring a smile to her face. Appointing himself as her very own guardian, he helped her to explore the world even teaching her how to swing a sword. He watched her progress, making a name for herself, but all the time he was too scared to admit his feelings to her. He was no more then a dirty vagabond, there was no way she could ever love him. So always he would stand in the shadows, protecting her.

Valron had been gone several months on a mission to Jeuno, but on his return to Bastok he went in search of Angelina. Desperately seeking, holding in his pocket a beautiful diamond ring. Tonight he swore he would profess his love for her.  
He asked everyone in town if they had seen her, yet no one would say. He began to worry, she had to be somewhere. Finally he found her best friend in the Steaming Sheep, but what he learned did not calm him...The words that he heard hardened his heart. His sweet Angelina had left town, she was to marry another.  
That night he stood alone on the dock and as he cast the diamond ring into the water, he vowed he’d never love again.


	2. The Found

The quadav had long been dead, but the axe cutting into him never slowed. Valron stood over the corpse continually dissecting it, mutilating it with his blade. He couldn’t explain why, but it just felt good. His mind was lost to the sheer pleasure, blood soaking the ground and his armor.  
He never heard the galka approaching, he was still trying to swing his axe as the galka’s large arms encircled his body and lifted him off the ground. “Halt, boy.”  
Clarity slowly seeped back into Valron’s mind, blinking back the steady flow of tears. The galka shook him hard until the weapon fell to the dirt.  
When at last the fight drained from the boy’s body, the large man released him, “Why did you do that, boy?”  
Valron looked up at the man in front of him, “I...I don’t know.”  
“Hmm...” The galka stood, examining the young man, noticing the strength in his form and the coldness in his eyes. “I am Zeid, I would like to teach you to harness the anger I sense in you. I have heard your name before. You may very well have the potential to be one of the greats.”

So it began, Valron submitted to the tutelage of the infamous dark knight. Tirelessly he trained day and night, surrendering himself to the dark art form. His mind and body enveloping itself completely in the bloodlust. In the final training session, Zeid instructed Valron to craft a new weapon. While Zeid preferred to wield a great sword, Valron chose a weapon more dark...and menacing. Using his skills honed from working in the mines and using the rare Orichalcum metal, he crafted a beautiful, yet deadly, scythe. Valron looked it over when he was done. The black blade shined bright, the craftsmanship flawless. Zeid was extremely proud of his protege, soon enough he viewed Valron as strong enough to work for the Republic.  
Being an agent was not always an easy task, but his trust and loyalty remained strong to his nation and as the Republic grew so did his success. Valron became a man to be envied and feared. A lone knight that was a force to be reckoned with. As the right hand of Zeid, everyone kept their distance.  
Zeid knew this man, he watched over him the entire time, and no matter how well Valron acquiesced to the training and knowledge of a dark knight, the galka still worried. The emotions in him were strong, stronger then any knight he had ever trained. Zeid feared for this knight and the world if the restraints on those emotions were to break...


	3. The Descent

On yet another mission for the Republic, Valron found himself deep in the desert. Looking for a bit of respite he sidetracked to Rabao. While relaxing at the spring he thought he heard a familiar sing song voice from long ago. Standing there across the water was Angelina, wrapped in the arms of another man. His eyes narrowed as they gazed upon her smiling face and swollen stomach. He knew then she had never given him a second thought, she had never really cared for him.  
His hand instinctively tightened around the handle of his scythe as he stood and left the small desert town. He could feel the change overtaking him. Like a plague the darkness coated his heart. His body tensed, his muscles pulsed, the blood burning in his veins. From that moment on he was never again the same.  
He locked off every part of himself. He was now in it for the kill and the kill alone. Nothing else mattered, he wanted to see blood, he needed to feel the power. His scythe becoming the doom most saw an instant before death. Fatality at his hands was never merciful. The fire of his hatred scorched all he touched.

Zeid could not stop him; this was an internal battle that had to be fought alone. The most the galkan knight could do was pray the destruction wrought could be used for the good of the Republic.

When the news reached the selfish ears of President Karst he started to take advantage of the fallen dark knight. He could use Valron in his secret plans, plans that would be the downfall of his enemies. Mission after mission, Valron was sent into enemy lairs and dungeons, slaying beastmen, traitors, criminals and anyone else who opposed the Republic. With fire raging in his eyes, his power was unmatched by any soldier the Republic had ever known. After years of Valron doing his bidding, the power hungry president had a new vile idea in the works. Valron would either take this mission or lose his commission in the Bastokan ranks. A man of his background would see the advantages of playing the president’s pawn, if he knew what was good for him.

Valron received a scroll of parchment, instructing him that his target was now going to be the San d’Orian royal family. The world went black before his eyes as the president’s scripted signature came into view. The fragile paper crumpled in his fist as his booted feet stomped their way to the airship...His destination Kazham, his target an elvaan princess...His soul was officially lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _"Venomous rage can only rule the heart so long as the heart isn’t owned by love."_ -Cheyenne
> 
> ~~~
> 
> (This is the end of Book 2, Valron's story will be continued in Book 3 entitled 'Star-Crossed')


End file.
